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International Relations

Growing Up During The War
In just a year, a small Bosnian museum dedicated to the experience of growing up during the Balkan wars has opened, won a best European museum prize and decided to go global. The War Childhood Museum in Sarajevo, full of memorabilia from Bosnians whose childhood was traumatized by the 1990s war, has started collecting personal items from children affected by other wars. (Children, wartime situations, memories.)Upper-Intermediate

Memories ....
Tiny memory cards and fluffy teddy bears are among the most popular items for North Koreans shopping in Dandong, China's gateway city to its neighbor. (North Korea, souvenirs, television shows, influence of media.)Upper-Intermediate

Team Refugee
Angeline Nadai Lohalith would like to see peace in South Sudan so she could march for her country at the Olympic Games. But Lohalith will march under the flag of the Refugee Olympic team at the 2016 Games in Rio. "I can pass a message to the world that, refugees can also do what other people can do. They should not be looked down upon," Lohalith said. (Olympics, refugees, displaced people)Elementary

Demining Animals
Eight dogs have finished their difficult training. They are part of Thailand's battle to get rid of land-mines. Find out about two other animals that are used for "demining" (Landmine clearance, sorting information, 'adjective + for + object pattern'.)Elementary

Fleeing Yemen
The rocket that tore through a minivan outside the Aden Grand Hotel last week killing nine men, women and children was a clear message that it was time to leave. Yemen's civil war had come too close for comfort. (Discussion, sequencing)Advanced

Meeting & Greeting
In business, the first thing we do when we meet someone is shake hands. While it seems simple enough, this "first impression" greeting sends a powerful message about you and your respect for others. (Matching information, cases studies, word search, role play).Intermediate

Permits Required
In the land where Jesus lived, Christians say their dwindling numbers are turning churches from places of worship into museums. And when Christian pilgrims come from all over the world to visit the places of Christ's birth, death and resurrection, they find them divided by a concrete wall. As a boy growing up in Jerusalem, Yacoub Dahdal saw Christians from all over the Middle East converge on the city at Easter time to walk in the footsteps of Jesus.Advanced

Tips and Hints for Visitors
Commonwealth Games organizers have compiled an extensive list of hints and tips for visitors to the October event, the guide providing a valuable insight into social mores as well as helping to avoid embarrassing situations. (Commonwealth Games, sport, rules for behavior, New Delhi.)Upper-Intermediate

Pirates!
A new spate of hijackings by Somali pirates has shown they are determined to go on striking at shipping on the region's strategic trade routes despite intervention by Western and other navies. Multi-million-dollar superyachts sailing from the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean for the European summer could be the next high-profile target of Somali pirates, security experts say. (Super yachts, piracy, choosing the correct headline, finding errors.)Advanced

Slim Peace
There's the weekly weigh-in, the tips on healthy snacking and the chit-chat between women. But this is a slimming group with a difference: half its members are Palestinian, half are Israeli and the aim is to foster dialogue, through a common battle with weight. (Women and focus groups, Palestine and Israel, conflicts, brainstorming, completing a table of information, collocation and vocabulary exercises)Advanced

Water Crisis
Fleets of supertankers could one day ply the world's oceans laden not with oil but fresh water. The world's top climate scientists have issued the strongest warning yet that human activity was heating the planet. By 2100, water scarcity could impact between 1.1 and 3.2 billion people. (Water conservation, predicting from a headline, completing a table, interpreting, survey on water use, completing a poster slogan, finding grammatical errors.)Upper-Intermediate Lesson Updated: 9 February 2007

Max Vocab Worksheet: The United Nations
Here are a couple of exercises on words related to the United Nations and the Security Council. This worksheet goes well with the Upper Intermediate lesson "The Security Council".Upper-Intermediate

Education in Crisis
Ahmed waits outside his school's gates on a chilly midweek morning, holding his textbooks by his side. But as the majority of pupils and teachers fail to arrive, the 18-year-old, who is in his final year at high school, has to put off learning for yet another day. "It's canceled again today," he said. (Education in an area of conflict, Iraq, brainstorming vocabulary, checking predictions, completing a sentence summary, inferring, discussion, describing qualities.)Advanced

Shaking hands between the trenches
The last known surviving allied veteran of the Christmas Truce that saw German and British soldiers shake hands between the trenches in World War One died Monday at 109, his parish priest said...Troops in the trenches swapped cigarettes, uniform buttons and addresses and even played football in one of the most extraordinary episodes of the war. (War, Christmas, peace, friendship, memories, predicting, true, false or not given, comprehension, thinking carefully.)Intermediate

Keeping the river flowing
The Jordan River is heavily polluted with sewage and is in danger of drying up after decades of conflict and intense agricultural use, environmentalists say. (Environment, agriculture, natural resources, religions, the Middle East, rivers, answering true or false questions, comprehension, cloze reading, reported speech, direct speech, team quiz.)Upper-Intermediate

World's Largest Lesson 2005
All Level Lesson - WLL 2005. Governments are doing far too little to remove unexploded bombs and landmines. Landmine Action said not only were children being killed and maimed as they unwittingly played with the brightly colored unexploded bomblets from cluster bombs, but land and antitank mines were slowing postwar aid delivery and development. (Landmines, world's largest lesson, postwar development.)Intermediate

Loans for Hope
Maqsood is one of more than 1,600 beneficiaries of a micro-credit program launched by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Afghanistan. The program provides interest-free loans to disabled Afghans eager to start their own small-sized businesses. There is also an interview with the founder of SPBD, a microfinance organisation in Samoa. (Microeconomics, microfinance, Afghanistan, jigsaw reading, vocabulary in context, comprehension, past perfect, synonyms, discussion.)Intermediate

The Most Powerful Man In Music
The new album is nearly here, and U2's lead singer Bono is the most powerful man in music, and not just because of his singing, says a poll of top music business people. (Bono and U2, music and politics, reading for overall understanding, reading for detail, true or false, because, gap fill, word find puzzle.)Elementary

Global Warming Threat
Global warming poses a greater long-term threat to humanity than terrorism because it could force hundreds of millions from their homes and trigger an economic catastrophe, Canadian Environment Minister David Anderson said. (Global warming, terrorism, threats, ranking, understanding the main idea, scanning, comprehension, understanding points of view, direct and indirect speech, giving opinions, game - indirect speech, writing a poem using prompts.)Upper-Intermediate

Santa School
A school for Santas has opened in Japan, a country with little Christian tradition and a Christmas that is more about shopping than religion. (Santa, finding the main idea, gap fill, true or false, mixed sentences, sequencing, complete the picture.)Pre-Intermediate

Night of a Thousand Dinners
At the Night of a Thousand Dinners people around the world share a meal to raise money for landmine clearance. This lesson looks at this event, some of the problems that landmines have caused in Afghanistan, and the dangers of landmines. (Landmine organizations, international issues, effect of landmine explosions on ordinary people, especially women, Afghanistan, reading and predicting, making sentences, jigsaw reading, comprehension, sharing information, check your understanding.)Elementary

Night of a Thousand Dinners
At the Night of a Thousand Dinners people around the world share a meal to raise money for landmine clearance. This lesson looks at this event, some of the problems that landmines have caused in Afghanistan, and the dangers of landmines. (Landmine organizations, international issues, effect of landmine explosions on ordinary people, especially women, Afghanistan, reading and predicting, making sentences, jigsaw reading, comprehension, sharing information, check your understanding.)Pre-Intermediate

Night of a Thousand Dinners
At the Night of a Thousand Dinners people around the world share a meal to raise money for landmine clearance. This lesson looks at this event, some of the problems that landmines have caused in Afghanistan, and the dangers of landmines. (Landmine organizations, international issues, effect of landmine explosions on ordinary people, especially women, Afghanistan, reading and predicting, making sentences, jigsaw reading, comprehension, sharing information, check your understanding.)Intermediate

Night of a Thousand Dinners
At the Night of a Thousand Dinners people around the world share a meal to raise money for landmine clearance. This lesson looks at this event, some of the problems that landmines have caused in Afghanistan, and the dangers of landmines. (Landmine organizations, international issues, effect of landmine explosions on ordinary people, especially women, Afghanistan, reading and predicting, making sentences, jigsaw reading, comprehension, sharing information, check your understanding.)Upper-Intermediate

Night of a Thousand Dinners
At the Night of a Thousand Dinners people around the world share a meal to raise money for landmine clearance. This lesson looks at this event, some of the problems that landmines have caused in Afghanistan, and the dangers of landmines. (Landmine organizations, international issues, effect of landmine explosions on ordinary people, especially women, Afghanistan, reading and predicting, making sentences, jigsaw reading, comprehension, sharing information, check your understanding.)Advanced

Plan To Fight Future SARS
Asia-Pacific health ministers have agreed to common health screening procedures for the deadly SARS virus and to share information to combat the disease as China promised openness to stop future outbreaks. (SARS, controlling infectious diseases, trade, brainstorming, predicting from the headline, making questions, completing and performing an interview.)Upper-Intermediate

International Treaty Against Smoking
More than 190 countries approved the first international treaty against smoking, including an advertising ban, aimed at kicking a habit that kills nearly 5 million people a year. (Antismoking, WHO, complete the headline, scanning, reading carefully, summarizing, relative clauses, information exchange, debate, complete the drawing.)Upper-Intermediate

The Business of First Impressions
You have 10 seconds; no more than 90. That's how long it takes to form a first impression, which for business travelers can ultimately sink or seal a deal. (Business etiquette, preparing for a meeting, making a good first impression, understanding the headline, finding ideas, business crossword, thinking carefully, writing an e-mail, ordering text game, conditionals and even.)Advanced

Unsafe Swings
A European Union rule has forced a British parish council to close its playground swings which are used by hundreds of children a year. (Playgrounds and safety, children's games, prediction, reading for detail, comprehension, question words, discussion, nouns and adjectives, word find puzzle, group design project.)Elementary

Gum Law May Change
Chewing gum has been banned in Singapore since 1992. The law said that Singaporeans could not import, sell or make it. But now Singapore may change the law. (Chewing gum ban in Singapore, understanding the main idea, comprehension, true or false, matching ideas with pictures, discussion, group project imperatives.)Elementary

Landmine Danger
2002's WLL builds on last year's in continuing to educate people about landmines. The widespread use of these antipersonnel landmines has continued, making it even more difficult to eliminate a weapon that kills or maims thousands of people every year. The lesson is able to be done by students from Pre-Intermediate to Advanced levels. (Landmines, things that endanger people's lives, understanding the main idea, information gap fill, true or false, multiple choice, and 'still' used as an adverb.)Intermediate

Sea Refugees
Nations must make plans to help tens of millions of "sea level refugees" if climate change continues to ravage the world's oceans. (Climate change, global warming, comprehension, true, false or not given, discussion, reported speech and direct speech.)Upper-Intermediate

Ground Zero
Today's lesson looks back to the events of September 11, 2001 and analyses an article giving an account of the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to the ruins of the World Trade Center complex shortly after the event. (Vocabulary and style, scanning, text organization, synonyms, analyzing a text, expressive writing, human interest stories.)Advanced

Mangrove Forest Under Threat
Bangladesh and India will work together under a UN plan to protect the Sundarban, the world's biggest mangrove forest. (Conservation, mangrove forests, endangered species, discussion, superlative adjectives, crossword.)
Pre-Intermediate

Global Aging
More than half of babies born in rich nations today will live to be 100 years old if current life expectancy trends continue. Increasing numbers of very old people could bring major challenges for health and social systems, but the research showed that may be [lessened] by people not only living longer, but also staying healthier in their later years. (Life expectancy, aging, understanding statistical information.)Intermediate

A Longer Life
If you want to live to a healthy old age, head for Japan. The Japanese have the healthiest life expectancy among 191 countries in the world.
(The World Health Organization (WHO), diet, life expectancy, international rankings, adjectives, superlatives.)Intermediate

'Drink of the Gods'
Growing health concerns about kava have thrown a spanner in South Pacific plans to turn it into a big export crop, straining already frail island economies. Vanuatu's Finance Minister, Joe Baumol Carlo, said adverse medical reports were not the fault of kava, but of the derivatives added by pharmaceutical companies. (Herbal medicines, health, natural remedies, kava, trade, business, government controls on drugs, prepositions.) Upper-Intermediate

Cyber Lambs
Ten of New Zealand's 44 million sheep have their own web site, after Japanese school children adopted them. (Animals, the Internet, using 'at least', 'or more', 'over' and 'plus' with numbers.)
Elementary

Connected
Any time there's a disaster, people reach for the nearest phone. The attack on September the 11th was no exception. This lesson looks at how mobile phones played an important role in Tuesday's tragic chain of events. (Telephones, summary completion, abbreviations.)Upper-Intermediate to Advanced

A Global Issue
"Landmines take or wreck three lives an hour, every hour, every day of every year. We have to come together now to try to stop that," Sir Paul McCartney said on launching Adopt-A-Minefield UK, a new charity raising funds for mine clearance and landmine survivors. (Landmine clearance, global problems, vegetarians, the passive.)Intermediate

The Newest President
In 2008 the Security Council has five new members including Libya. (United Nations, Security Council, Ban Ki-Moon and his achievements to date, defining and non-defining relative clauses, gap filling, Internet research, reading for specific information, split readings.)Upper-Intermediate

Nunavut: A New Territory
In the first redrawing of Canada's maps in 50 years, a vast new Arctic territory has been created. (Geography, Canada, local autonomy, dependent clauses)
Intermediate

Fast Food
France's agriculture minister said on Friday he was battling to stop fast food from spreading all over the world. (Fast food, cultural imperialism, adjectives.)Pre-Intermediate

24-hour plane delay
A pet squirrel grounded a jetliner for a day by playing hide-and-seek with engineers and airline crew. (Pets, diary writing, adverbs of time, spend + -ing verbs and prepositions)
Upper-Intermediate

Possible Bioweapon
This lesson is about Australian scientists who inadvertently created a killer mouse virus, and the problems of trying to control the spread of biological weapons.
(Virus, scientific mistakes, bioweapons)Advanced

GM Food - Needed
An official from Nigeria says that African nations need access to genetically modified crops to boost food production, not lectures from "misguided" groups in more developed countries about the possible perils of the new generation of seeds: "To deny desperate, hungry people the means to control their futures by presuming to know what is best for them is not only paternalistic, but morally wrong."
(Food shortages, Africa)
Intermediate to Upper-Intermediate